Benefit cheat lotto rapist faces prison

Benefit cheat lotto rapist faces prison

Edward Putman begged the authorities for handouts despite hitting the jackpot in 2009

Grasping Edward Putman, 46, begged the authorities for handouts despite hitting the jackpot in 2009 and even got backdated payments.

He pleaded poverty in letters to the Department for Work and Pensions and the council. In one note he whined: “I lost a lot of weight and had lot to deal with.

I didn’t know whether I would still be alive.

“I’m on the brink of being evicted.”

The sex beast, who was jailed for seven years in 1993 for raping a girl of 17, was rumbled when he tried to buy his state-subsidised flat in Hemel Hempstead, Herts, from the council for £83,000 in cash.

Investigators uncovered just under £5million at St James’s Bank, which calculates interest daily for its well-heeled customers and is recommended by Lotto operators Camelot.

Putman yesterday appeared before St Albans magistrates and admitted two counts of failing to notify a change of circumstances between September 2009 and May last year.

Putman, of Kings Langley, Herts, was released on bail to appear at St Albans Crown Court for sentencing on July 24.